Friday, July 17, 2020

The 1980 Listening Post - Original Mirrors - Original Mirrors

Original Mirrors - Original Mirrors


#199
1980 Housekeeping LISTENING POST DISCOVERY
Original Mirrors
Original Mirrors
Genre: New Wave
4.5 out of 5


Highlights: 
The Boys The Boys
Flying
Chains of Love
Could This Be Heaven?
Boys Cry

Requisite 80s Cover: “Reflections” by The Supremes. I have no doubt Fun Boy Three and Thompson Twins owned this single. They made great music out of this style. Original Mirrors do not. 


Believe it or not, this sounds a lot like Frankie Goes to Hollywood. 
In fact, it’s a harbinger of the sound that about to pop. Original Mirrors were there before A Flock of Seagulls. 
This is another case of an album that’s actually pretty exciting in it’s own way, has it’s own vision and derails itself with a mediocre cover. I get it. You gotta cut through and “Tainted Love” will prove the model was smart for Soft Cell (who didn’t back it with an original so lost out in millions from B-Side sales) and Bananrama had “Venus”. 
I wish OM didn’t front load the album with it, though. Since it took a while for it to recover. And then, dammit, it really grew on me. 
Btw, this is Ian Broudie’s band. He will go on to produce albums for Echo and the Bunnymen and The Zutons and The Subways. So, there’s a reason this sounds so damn good. We’re gonna drown in this sound in a couple years but, for now, it stands alone among a sea of music that sounds nothing like it. 

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